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Dec 14, 2010

Easy Pillowcase Dress…

Well, after a relaxing weekend catching up with family in the city I finally sat down at my machine tonight when the girls were (finally) in bed.

I have had these pillowcases for months now. I had purchased them both for $1 at a thrift store because I just loved the red and black flower print.

I have been meaning to convert them to a pillowcase dress for so long that tonight was the night!

The first thing I did was to take some lengths off so the dress wouldn’t be too long for my Big Little Miss M (I cut the excess off the open end).

Now because the pillowcase only had the print on the face of the pillow I used both for one dress and simply used the white pillow back as lining.

I then cut armholes out of the top left and right corners of both pillowcases and then cut both side seams off.

This left me with two pillowcase pieces that I could open out flat.

I then over-locked (serged) the armpit openings and the new side seams.

Then to ensure I had an opening to feed the neck ribbon through I folded the over-locked edge under right at the top where the lining was attached to the print side.

Then I flipped the lining to the inside and topstitched the remaining armpit (ensuring not to stitch over the opening that I’d done in the previous step).

The next step I did was to sew a decorative ribbon around the lower section of the dress and feed a coordinating ribbon through the neckline and hem the dress and lining.

I kept the lining and dress separate at the hem to avoid any bunching and to achieve a better hang.

Well here it is…..

I also did a quick little yo-yo in a piece of the scrap material just to give it a little extra touch and to cover the ribbon join.

Tomorrow I will add a picture of my little one wearing it… overall for my $1 and about an hour of sewing I am fairly happy with the result.

Here are a couple of photos of my Big Little Miss M. I just love how my little 3 year old works the camera… she makes me smile with her poses!

And here’s a photo of her with lil sis (Little Little Miss M). I love when I get a shot of the two of them sharing some sisterly love… I hope they grow to treasure these as they get older.

And the one below is just because it really makes me laugh. They were both facing the morning sun (silly I know, but it made me think… doesn’t almost everyone have one of these photos from childhood, all squinty and such?)

Oh, and Little Little Miss M’s dress was the Christmas dress I made for big sis last year! Still looks just as good :)

Thanks Karlista! I'm glad you like the dress... stay tuned I'll be doing a much more standard type pillowcase dress tutorial after the madness of the silly season! (The one above was a little different to some of the more usual pillowcase dresses because the print was only on one side of the case and I made it lined).I'm impressed with your blog and craftiness... keep up the blogging - I am so doubly impressed due to your age... WOW!

Hi Jodeth... I don't at this point have a tute for that style but I'll pencil it in to get onto one! Thanks for stopping by and so glad you like it enough to want to try out the design... it's such a nice style that just doesn't date (but then again a lot of classic little girls styles are like that!)

Hi and thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment... I just love reader feedback - and I also love replying via email...but you need to have a visible email in your account settings for me to do this, otherwise just know that I do read your comments and do appreciate them... Be sure to drop by again soon - I love the company ☺

Who is the SPANGLER?

Deconstructing the day stitch by stitch...
a stay at home mother to two wonderful,beautiful, mischievous, curious, funny, awe-inspiring little girls who know how to make me feel like the most luckiest person in the world (whilst at the very same moment managing to make me feel a little like I'm losing my mind!)
Becoming a parent has reawakened a need to be crafty & creative and generally to see the world through younger more imaginative eyes.
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